Lotta Svärd

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The Lotta Svärd emblem designed by Eric Wasström in 1921. It includes the heraldic swastika and roses.

Lotta Svärd was a Finnish voluntary auxiliary paramilitary organisation for women. During the Finnish Civil War it was associated with the Suojeluskunta. After the war Lotta Svärd was founded as a separate organisation on September 9, 1920. The name comes from a poem by Johan Ludvig Runeberg. Part of a large and famous book, The Tales of Ensign Stål, the poem described a fictional woman named Lotta Svärd. According to the poem, a Finnish soldier, private Svärd, went to fight in the Finnish War and took his wife, Lotta, along with him. Private Svärd was killed in battle, but his wife remained on the battlefield, taking care of wounded soldiers. The name was first brought up by marshal Mannerheim in a speech given on May 16, 1918. The first known organisation to use the name Lotta Svärd was the Lotta Svärd of Riihimäki, founded on November 11, 1918.

Wartime dolls dressed as Lottas.

The organisation expanded during the 1920s and it included 60 000 members in 1930. By 1944 it included 242 000 volunteers, the largest voluntary auxiliary organisation in the world, while the total population of Finland was less than four million. During the war some 100 000 men whose jobs were taken over by "Lottas" were freed for military service. The Lottas worked in hospitals, at air-raid warning posts and other auxiliary tasks in conjunction with the armed forces. The Lottas, however, were officially unarmed. The only exception was a voluntary anti-aircraft barrery in Helsinki in the summer of 1944, composed of Lotta Svärd members. The battery operated the AA search-lights. The unit was issued rifles for self-protection, thus being the only armed female military unit of the Finnish Defence Forces history.^[1]

Lottas at an air-raid warning post during the Second World War.

When the Continuation War ended the Soviet Union demanded that all organisations considered by them to be paramilitary, fascist or semi-fascist be banned. Thus, the Lotta Svärd organisation was one of the groups which was disbanded. This happened November 23, 1944. However, a new organisation called Suomen Naisten Huoltosäätiö (Support Foundation of Finnish Women) was started which took over much of the old property. This organisation still exists to this day by the name of Lotta Svärd Säätiö (Lotta Svärd Foundation).

The Finnish Lotta Svärd organisation has inspired similar organisations in other countries and there is still a Lotta Svärd organisation in Sweden (Lottorna); the same model is also used in Denmark and Norway.

A 2005 film Lupaus ("Promise") describes the trials and tribulations of a number of Finnish Lottas during the Second World War.